HiCould anyone advise on whether a person can qualify for Public Funding twice. Our son was granted RO by the courts in 2010. Mother was instructed that she was not permitted to have indirect contact with the children (our grandsons).

The order stipulated that if she breached that ruling she would risk a custodial sentence! She has done this several times but nothing was done.

Now she is causing mayhem again and has made an application to the court for contact on the weekends. In addition she has since made a second application requesting a DNA test for our oldest grandson who is now 11 years of age. We had to endure this traumatic step during the court case with our youngest grandson. She has mental health problems and time after time she is causing grief. She has actually now got another child who is a year old. Our son was given RO as she had assaulted our eldest grandson and she received a police caution.It seems so very wrong that despite all she has done she apparently is entitled to Public Funding whilst our son has to struggle to fight this latest accusation.

Please advise as we were under the impression that "Legal Aid" has ceased.

Legal aid hasn't been abolished, but entitlement to receive it is quite a bit more restrictive than it used to be. Parents would still be entitled to receive it if their child is subject to care proceedings. Other cases depend on the individual circumstances, but they are still subject to a means and merit test. Someone who is on universal credit or similar benefits will usually pass the means test, but to pass the merit test they would need to show that the circumstances were serious. In family law cases, this would usually mean showing that there had been domestic violence or abuse of the children, although as I stated every individual case is different and it is hard to predict who will qualify and who won't.

Thank-you David. Our son is now back in court on 17 March and the mother has made an application giving DV as the basis despite our son not seeing her in the last five years aside from appearances in court. It does however seem ridiculous that a case already proven in court that she lied about DV, and all claims dismissed by the court can be reopened.She has a police caution for assault on our grandson, and numerous police incidents where she was accused of ABH to her new boyfriend. She has deliberately been economic with the truth on her statement providing her parents address in order to avoid police checks on her home address.It just seems so unfair and unjust!

Hi Again, re Legal Aid Certificate granted, is it possible for the commission to remove funding if it is proven that someone has been totally dishonest on the application form via the solicitor. Also, shouldn't the solicitor have checked on previous history?

Thank you for your response ied53, and you would think that wouldn't you? She has totally duped the system and it would seem that it could take weeks/months for Legal Aid governing body to tackle this. It makes me wonder whether it is worth being honest anymore, as it doesn't get us anywhere!!We are totally fed up with red tape that we have to endure but when faced with blatant untruths, the powers that be do nothing!!We have to keep fighting for our grandchildren but it is all so unfair

Thank you so much David. This is heartening as our son was in court yesterday but has been adjourned yet again. To be fair the judge was not best pleased to be presented with the particulars of the case as the original RO granted to our son in 2011 stated that Mother was to have "no direct/indirect contact" As she has been awarded Legal Aid yet again she can be permitted to make many historical allegations against our son and it wont cost her a penny, whereas our son has to secure legal representation and fund it entirely. He also has the costs of bringing up the children (which is not in question). We do have written evidence in our possession of her previous address where she had several police visits. Therefore, she assumes that providing her parents' address will therefore not identify her.Our son's solicitor has already suggested writing to Legal Aid Agency.